A decade before "state capture" entered the national vocabulary, the Gauteng Department of Health was run through a private consultancy. From 2006 the department gave 3P Consulting, owned by Richard Payne, a project-management role that allowed it to appoint sub-contractors, award work to directors' relatives and inflate prices; the Baoki consortium was awarded a R1.2 billion tender for a health-information system that paid out hundreds of millions and never worked. The SIU's 2018 report put the irregular contracts at R1.2 billion — R329 million for the project-management unit, R470 million-plus for IT upgrades, R299 million-plus for the network — and found MEC Brian Hlongwa "central to the corrupt scheme", describing "corrupt relationships" that included a R7.2 million Bryanston house, flights and spa treatments.
The province sued 3P and Baoki to block further claims. In October 2020 four former officials were charged. On 3 December 2021 Hlongwa — by then ANC chief whip in the legislature — his wife Joeline Davids-Hlongwa and co-accused were arrested on a 258-count racketeering indictment alleging R221 million in overspend; bail was set at R20,000 to R50,000. Payne is abroad and extradition is being sought. Hlongwa: "I've not heard anything" — asking why matters from 2006–09 had surfaced only in 2021. Charges are untested; all accused are presumed innocent. The case predates, and foreshadows, the Life Esidimeni and PPE files on the same department.